


Set With Stars

by EmiAliceinWonderland



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Conversations, Falling In Love, Feelings, First Love, Fluff, I can't remember what to put in tags???, M/M, No Call Down the Hawk Spoilers, Plotless Fluff, Post-The Raven King, Romance, Small Talk, Talking, Vignette, soft boyfriends, swearing because Ronan Lynch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:06:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25904050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmiAliceinWonderland/pseuds/EmiAliceinWonderland
Summary: "There's nothing but Adam’s hand hanging out of the open window of the passenger side, wind rushing through his fingers and catching in his hair as he leans out to watch the world flash by. Nothing but Ronan’s fierce confidence behind the wheel of the car, and the buzz of electricity that surrounds him whenever he gets to just drive.There’s nothing but Ronan, Ronan, Ronan running through Adam’s brain at seventy miles per hour."---Set a month or so after Pynch get together, just new boyfriends exploring their feelings, their thoughts on sexuality, and a little bit of stargazing.
Relationships: Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Comments: 12
Kudos: 162





	Set With Stars

**Author's Note:**

> GOSH this took me so long to write, it's original title was "where are they going? I don't know, just drivin". It really has no plot, but I love to write character and relationship explorations more than anything, so I hope you don't mind the lack of real story here. Comments and kudos mean the world to me, if you have any feedback or even any prompts for future fics I'd love to hear them! :3 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading <3

> _Constellation: A Latin word meaning "set with stars."_

It’s 10PM on a clear Henrietta night and there’s nothing but the road flying past beneath the wheels of Ronan Lynch’s shiny black BMW. Nothing but the purr of the engine, and the final glimpses of a summer sun slipping down past the horizon, making way for a sky of stars to cover the Virginia fields. Nothing but Adam’s hand hanging out of the open window of the passenger side, wind rushing through his fingers and catching in his hair as he leans out to watch the world flash by. Nothing but Ronan’s fierce confidence behind the wheel of the car, and the buzz of electricity that surrounds him whenever he gets to just  _ drive.  _

There’s nothing but  _ Ronan, Ronan, Ronan _ running through Adam’s brain at seventy miles per hour. 

“When did you start liking me?” 

Adam doesn’t plan on asking the question, but it tumbles out of his mouth regardless, his eyes turning onto Ronan as he brings his hand back into the car. 

Ronan tenses imperceptibly at the question, his eyes darting over to Adam for a second before flitting back to the road and staying there with a steely focus. His hands tighten slightly on the steering wheel.

It’s surprising such a simple question has caught a nerve.

“I’ve never liked you, you’re annoying as hell,” Ronan replies after a second, shrugging easily as he shifts up into a higher gear, his eyes glinting with humour in the darkness of the car.

Adam sighs and rolls his eyes even though Ronan can’t see him doing it. “Sure, sure,” he drawls, “I’m so annoying you’ve just gotta kiss me every chance you get, huh?” 

“Yeah, it shuts you up,” Ronan quips back, and Adam lets out an easy laugh, shaking his head a little as he wonders how on earth he’s ended up with this boy. 

“You’re kind of cute when you’re grumpy, you know,” 

“What the fuck?”

“I said you’re kind of cute when-”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time, loser. The fuck you mean I’m cute?”

Adam stifles a laugh at the indignation in Ronan’s voice, trying to play it serious just to see how much he can irk him. 

“I think you’re very cute when you’re grumpy,” he repeats again with a shrug, “which is 98% of the time, really.” 

Ronan hums, half annoyance and half curiosity, “You think I’m cute 98% of the time?” 

“No, I think you’re grumpy 98% of the time.” 

“But you think it’s cute when I’m grumpy?”

“Oh my god, Ronan! How many times are you going to repeat this?” Adam finally laughs, a bemused smile breaking from him when Ronan looks a little put out, his shoulders giving up in a half-hearted shrug. 

“I dunno”, he mumbles, frowning to himself before quickly throwing a finger up at Adam, and adding as an afterthought another mumbled, “fuck you.” 

Adam lets out another incredulous laugh, his eyebrows raised as he reaches to grab Ronan’s finger before it has a chance to retreat from flipping him off. “What the hell is wrong with you tonight?” he asks, tugging at Ronan’s hand to bring it over to his lap.

Ronan balls his hand into a fist momentarily, resisting Adam before he seems to remember that he’s been holding hands with him for over a month now, that it’s something he can give in to without a fight. 

“What d’you mean?” Ronan responds, feigning concentration as they round a corner. Adam knows he knows these roads like the back of his hand, could drive them in his sleep, probably  _ has _ driven them in his dreams, but he lets him pretend to concentrate, sighing fondly at his ridiculous boyfriend. 

Less than a minute later Ronan pipes up again, like he is often wont to do when Adam uses his new found technique of simply leaving him to simmer in silence for a few moments, rather than trying to goad him into having a reasonable conversation. 

“No one’s ever called me cute before,” he eventually says, and Adam has to purse his lips together to keep from laughing. 

“Oh?” he responds. 

“Are you fucking laughing at me?” Ronan asks, turning to look at Adam and speeding up the car at the same time. 

“Eyes on the road!” Adam warns quickly, “and no I’m not laughing.”

Ronan gives him another suspicious glance before dutifully turning back to the road.

“I swear I didn’t laugh.”

“Yeah but you  _ wanted _ to.”

“Oh, so it’s a crime to even  _ think _ of laughing at you now, is it?”

Ronan sighs, “I want to be cute  _ all the time  _ to you.”

Adam blinks, his thumb subconsciously rubbing against the back of Ronan’s hand in his lap. “That’s sweet,” he says honestly. Because it is. 

“I’m not sweet,” Ronan grumbles in response, but in the darkness of the rapidly fading dusk light Adam can see the tiny smile that Ronan’s trying to fight. 

“So... do you  _ want _ to be called nice things by me or not want to be called nice things by me?”

“I don't know! That’s why I'm confused. And conflicted. If anyone else ever called me cute I’d punch them but somehow when you say it it makes my stomach flip and my chest go warm. You’re fucked up Parrish, possessing me like that. It’s creepy as hell.”

“You find it creepy that your boyfriend gives you butterflies?”

“I’ve just never had them before you. Properly.”

“When did you first start getting them?” Adam asks casually.

“Uh… I don’t remember, maybe back when we started properly hanging out.”

Adam raises an eyebrow, “Oh, like this summer? You mean, just the two of us?” referring to their days spent with unresolved tension between them, the glances and looks and longing stares they’d exchange, studying each other whilst the other pretended not to notice. The long hours spent at the barns and countless balmy nights spent researching magic, and mystery, and monstrous things. 

Ronan swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, “Uh, yeah, sure. This summer.”

Adam narrows his eyes, suspicion rising in him at the way Ronan’s fingers twitch in his, a nervous tick that he’s only recently come to know. 

“I think I’ve liked you longer than I realised,” he says as way of breaking the ice into this conversation, an olive branch extended to Ronan that says ‘I _ t’s okay, I know we both know we’ve been in love for longer than we admit’ _ , gently trying to coax him out of the protective shell he puts up whenever it comes to talking about his feelings. 

Adam doesn’t know why he’s so curious to know when the other started liking him, noticing him like that. Maybe it’s an innate kind of narcissism that everyone possesses but he wants to know the how and why and when of this whole equation,  _ ‘What did you see in me?’ _ He wants to ask, not self deprecating but self assured, he wants to know the parts of him that make ronan go crazy, he wants to understand the electric connection between them, he wants to know everything he could only guess at before now, and he wants Ronan to know everything he thinks of him in return. 

“You have?” Ronan responds at Adam’s admission, glancing at him in slight surprise. “Since when?” 

“Well, I knew I wanted to kiss you for about a month before you kissed me,” he looks down at Ronan’s hand in his lap, and lets out a soft laugh, “drove me crazy, honestly.” 

Ronan turns to fully look at him at this, eyes wide and glinting off the reflection of the headlights of a passing truck. “ _ Dude _ ,” he says incredulously, and nothing else.

“You’ve got nice lips,” Adam shrugs, “couldn’t stop starin’ at them. Thought it would be obvious.” 

Ronan shakes his head, turning around a sharp corner onto a smaller country road. “Well, no, I kind of thought you were straight.” 

“Oh, me too.”

“You thought _ I _ was straight? The fuck?”

“No, I kind of thought  _ I  _ was straight.”

“Wait…” A devilish grin spreads across Ronan’s face, “So you’re saying I turned you gay?” 

Adam rolls his eyes, “First of all, I’m not gay-”

“I beg to differ,” Ronan interrupts, “Take this morning for example, you-”

“Lynch, shut up-”

“The things you do with me seem pretty gay, Parrish. That’s all I’m saying.” 

“I’m  _ bi.” _

“So am I,” Ronan responds immediately, and Adam raises an eyebrow.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not. You’ve never liked a girl in your life.”

“Bi...lingual,” He responds smugly, like Adam’s never heard a bi joke before, “Vescere bracis meis.”

Adam has to think for a second to translate the Latin phrase, and he doesn’t know why he’s surprised when he comes to realise Ronan has just told him to “Eat my shorts.”

“Podex perfectus es,” he responds, using an insult Ronan himself had taught him. “Eat my shorts?” he repeats, stifling laughter, “you’re really something, Lynch.”

“So are you,” Ronan responds, voice quieter, a small smile playing at his lips. He sighs, resigned, flicking the car indicator and turning sharply to pull up on a verge. He turns the ignition off and the headlights dim, leaving the two boys in darkness. Ronan squeezes Adam’s hand once and it feels like he’s squeezing at his heart, the simple gesture of affection making his chest warm. 

“I’ve liked you for a long time,” Ronan says quietly, sitting still and quiet as he looks out of the window at the stars outside. “I didn’t mean since we started hanging out this summer. I meant back when we became friends. You always felt so different from Gansey.”

Adam breathes out, momentarily lost for words, and Ronan tilts his head to outside the window, “Shall we go?”

Adam nods in response and reluctantly lets go of the other’s hand to unbuckle his seat belt and open the passenger side door. As soon as he reaches Ronan’s side of the car he holds out his hand for him again, and they begin walking away from the roadside, up an overgrown path of underbrush, the evening breeze mild as they watch Chainsaw flit from Ronan’s shoulder to fly above them along the treeline. They don’t have a plan or a purpose for where they’re going, and there’s something about doing this for the simple joy of it that makes Adam feel peaceful for the first time in years. They’re just two boys, growing up and out of their teenage years together, and navigating the unmarked paths of first love. No magic, no magicians, no mysteries. Just the small spark between them that’s always been there but is finally getting it’s chance to grow into a fully-formed flame, kindled gently between Adam’s cupped hands and Ronan’s watchful gaze. 

After a few moments of walking in comfortable silence, Adam’s side pressed up close against Ronan’s, instinctively seeking warmth from the slight chill growing in the evening air. 

“Orion,” Ronan mutters, squinting and raising their joined hands up together as he points at a cluster of stars forming in the quickly darkening sky above. Chainsaw caws and circles where Ronan points like she’s helping to point out the constellation. 

“North star,” he says after another moment, pointing to a different spot in the sky. Adam follows his gaze upwards and nudges Ronan’s side fondly. “Since when do you know astronomy, hm?” 

“Dad liked it,” Ronan replies, his eyes flicking over to Adam for a second, and then down to their intertwined hands again when Adam gives a squeeze of confirmation for him to continue. “He knew all the names and how they connected and where the planets would be. Which way was north, south, east, and west,” he shrugs, “kind of cool, I guess.” 

Adam hums in response, “Definitely cool,” he replies. “Which is your favourite?”

“Favourite constellation? I dunno. Dad’s was Orion. So maybe Canis Minor. The Small Dog,” he moves a little to the side, almost cheek to cheek with Adam as he closes one eye and traces around the pattern of stars. “It really doesn’t look like a dog at all, to be honest.”

Adam follows suit, squinting his own eyes as he looks up, “No, not really. But I suppose that’s what imaginations are for.” 

“Uh huh,” Ronan responds, “Well in the stories, the greek myths, Canis Minor represents a dog called Maera that belonged to Icarius.” 

Adam nods, though he’s only half-listening, enchanted as he is by the way Ronan is starting to speak so freely around him the past few months, the way he’s letting his emotions show in his eyes and his voice and his body without even realising he’s doing it.

“He’s said to have jumped off a cliff in grief after Icarius died,” Ronan’s voice cuts into his stream of consciousness.

“Oh,” Adam replies, glancing over at Ronan, not sure what to say to that. 

“Where are we going?” he settles on after a moment, and Ronan just shrugs easily and swings their joined hands between them for a second as they reach the peak of grassy hill path they’ve been treading.

“I dunno. Just somewhere. Here? Do you wanna sit?” 

For the briefest of moments, Adam feels his brain short circuit, a flash of white hot panic rushing through him when Ronan lets go of his hand and starts to kneel down on the ground. He opens his mouth, gaping for a second like a fish, shocked into silence, until he realises Ronan’s simply moving to sit down on the grass, crossing his legs underneath himself and looking up at Adam now with a questioning look on his face. 

“Sup with you?” he asks, patting the space next to him for Adam to sit too.

Adam obliges, feeling the tips of his ears blush red, and he hopes against hope that it’s dark enough now that Ronan won’t notice.

He is never going to tell anyone about this moment and the fact that for a second he thought his teenage boyfriend was proposing to him after only a few months of dating. Never. 

“This is romantic,” he says instead, knocking his shoulder against Ronan’s when he sits down and letting himself lean in to the other boy without retreating when he does so.

“Eh, I didn’t plan it.”

“I wouldn’t laugh if you did.”

“You would.”

“Only a tiny bit.”

Adam smiles as he teases Ronan, poking a long finger into his side just to watch him dodge his body away with lightning quick reflexes. “Romantic Ronan Lynch,” he says, breathiness in his voice as he places a hand to his forehead and pretends to swoon. 

“Ew.”

“Ew?”

“Romance is disgusting,” Ronan shrugs in way of an answer, though he seems to realise his mistake only a second later when his breath hitches as Adam sidles closer to him, leaning his head on his shoulder and twining his left arm through Ronan’s right. 

“But not with you,” Ronan breaths out in a whisper almost instantly, like there’s two sides to his soul inside arguing with each other about how much of his guard he should let down tonight. 

_ All of it _ , Adam wants to say.  _ You’re safe with me. I want to know every part of you.  _

“I hated you and thought you were beautiful in equal measure. As soon as I first met you,” Ronan suddenly blurts out, like they’re back in the middle of their previous conversation in the car without having skipped a beat. 

“Huh?” Adam responds dumbly, looking up at Ronan from his place resting on his shoulder, though all he can see is the shadowed planes of his face in the moonlight, an expression unreadable. 

“Yeah. You were gorgeous and clever and charming and funny and Gansey fucking loved you and Noah did too and...stupid fucking accent..” Ronan trails off, his free hand plucking more and more aggressively at the patch of grass beside him.

“Pardon?”

“Sorry,” Ronan breathes out, finally turning to look down at Adam, his eyes widening in slight surprise when he realises how close their faces are now. “I get angsty when I think about things back then.” 

“I can tell,” Adam quips back with a raised eyebrow, reaching out his right hand to stroke a line along the other boy’s brow bone and down his cheek. “I can’t believe you’ve...  _ liked _ me for that long,” he eventually lets out in an incredulous whisper, a smile spreading across his face as he processes it.

“Wait,” he adds after a second, “does that mean you had a crush on me  _ whilst  _ I was dating Blue?” 

He regrets the question immediately when Ronan’s face moves away from him, the hope of a kiss fading as he realises he’s hit a sore spot. Ronan’s nose scrunches up a little as he looks up at the sky instead of at Adam and his shoulder tenses under the weight of Adam’s cheek. 

“Oh, Ronan…” he breathes out, sitting up to look at him properly, “I’m sorry.” 

“I didn’t say anything,” Ronan mumbles, though he’s thankfully not grumpy enough to resist the pull of the arm Adam slings around his shoulders in comfort.

“You didn’t have to,” Adam says softly after a moment, not wanting to patronise Ronan but unable to stop his heart panging in empathy at the thought of seeing Ronan with someone else. “That must’ve been really hard.” 

“It fucking sucked,” Ronan lets out with a humourless laugh. “But you couldn’t have known. And I didn’t even think you were gay or bi or avaliable to me in any way. It was all just a fantasy.”

Adam hums in thought and presses closer to the other boy, his hand rubbing small circles into his upper arm, feeling the cold hard presence of Ronan Lynch melt into him almost involuntarily as minute by minute pass. “Well, it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

“Thank fucking god,” Ronan responds, gesturing a lightning quick hail mary over his chest.

“Thank god indeed,” Adam presses a lingering kiss to Ronan’s lightly stubbled cheek. “Amen.”

“Amen,” Ronan parrots, moving forward for a kiss before they both burst into laughter, pressing their lips together messily, teeth clashing with their giggles, and the tension melting between them like it was never there at all. 

\---

Later, after more stargazing, and talking, more touching and kissing and laughing and just letting themselves  _ be  _ with each other, the moon high in the sky and Chainsaw pecking at the grass in front of them, wings tired out from flying alongside Orion for what could have been hours or minutes, they stand up, shaking out aching muscles from sitting on the hard ground.

“Does it bother you I’m bi?” Adam asks suddenly, forcing himself to expel the question that’s been on the tip of his tongue all night. 

“What? No, why would you even think that?” 

“I don’t know,” Adam pauses, biting his lower lip between his teeth before bringing up a hand to pick at a piece of dry skin, “I just want you to know that when I emphasis I’m bi not gay, it’s not because I’m planning for a future where I leave you and end up with a wife and kids. I just...don’t want to erase that part of my identity. Does that make sense?”

Ronan nods, considering carefully, “It makes sense,” he responds, reaching out for Adam’s hand to gently coax it away from where it’s worrying at his lip and not letting it go once it’s by his side again. “You don’t hear about bi people very often, I guess … like, they’re not straight enough straight people and not gay enough for gay people. It’s fucked up.”

“Exactly,” Adam replies, relief flooding through him at the realisation that Ronan _ got _ it.

“Does it bother  _ you? _ ” Ronan’s eyes are intense on him, searching his face for answers, but they’re kind, and understanding, and  _ listening.  _

Adam shrugs, “Maybe a little bit,” he admits, and he’s slightly surprised to hear himself say it. “I suppose … only because I might have known who I was a lot sooner if I’d thought it was even possible to like girls and guys at the same time. When I was younger I heard about being gay and wondered if that could be me, but then I’d look at girls and realise I liked them too, so I convinced myself I couldn’t be gay.” He lets out a long breath, “honestly, it was kind of a relief. Like … if I had crushes on girls then I must be straight. If I had crushes on girls I was safe. Because if I liked boys and was gay then I wouldn’t like girls at all, right?”

“Solid logic,” Ronan says with a raised eyebrow and a squeeze of his hand, coaxing him to continue. 

  
  


Adam chuckles, squeezing lightly back. “I guess for a few years I just kind of thought that every straight dude also had some covert crushes on men on the side. Totally normal heterosexual stuff,” he catches Ronan’s eye and smirks, “turns out they don’t.”

“The more you know,” Ronan hums in agreement. 

“Indeed,” Adam mutters, leaning forward to press his lips to Ronan’s on impulse, like a magnetic force between them was pulling him in, he places one hand on the other boy’s sharp jawline, pressing his thumb lightly under his cheek and looking up as him, into his stormy eyes as he slowly pulls back. 

“I can't imagine not being with you” he whispers, the mood changing, suddenly serious. Ronan leans into his palm slightly, fluttering his eyes downwards like he can’t quite look Adam in the eyes during the intensity of the moment, but then he does. Blue meeting green and the world stopped still and silent around them. 

“Me neither,” Ronan breathes, “You’re my person.” 

“Mmhmm” Adam hums in response, “and how stupid would it be if I let a little thing like gender get in the way of finding my person?” 

Ronan smiles crookedly, “I’m glad you realised it was okay for you to like guys.” 

  
“And I’m glad you’re not a girl,” Adam responds, letting out a soft laugh at the thought before running his hands down Ronan’s arms, over his taught muscles, the ever-so-slight height difference between them and the strength of Ronan’s grip around his waist making him light headed with desire, “ _ very  _ glad.”


End file.
